


The Cobra's Strike

by Laitie



Category: Batman (Comics)
Genre: F/M, OC, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-19
Updated: 2017-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-15 00:36:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5764954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Laitie/pseuds/Laitie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Not really sure where this is going. Just had this base idea for a while.<br/>An inexperienced villain is showing up, stealing chemical supplies from local laboratories. But she's just a pawn. Once she's caught, Batman and Co. are still faced with figuring out what she was helping. And both Dick and Naga(OC) find themselves dealing with feelings they never thought they'd have to. More romance than mystery.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> OK, so, I've had this idea for a Robin/OC romance for a long time. Just to entertain myself. But it was a silly idea, because I wanted Robin to be Tim Drake, but modern times...yeah. So I changed everything around to a more accommodating premise that still kept me happy. I also am really bad with keeping up with comics, which I haven't had any time to read in a long, long time. So PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE tell me NICELY if I'm depicting someone or something wrong. Generally, just be polite with any critiques, please.
> 
> This story could go anywhere. Like, pretty much anywhere. I'm open to any and all ideas. I would love to challenge myself on this piece.
> 
> Edit: Changed the ratings cuz what I realized what I planned to do really hindered the story more than helped. Also edited a few errors in the first two chapters when I added the third.

The lab was significantly larger than Punjab’s, that was for certain. And it was much more... Well, at least it looked more legit. Which was expected, of course. But she had never really ever thought about chemistry labs or anything, so she had had no idea what to expect. 

Punjab had trained her on all the computer security stuff, of course. But she still couldn’t really believe how much there was in just one room. Getting into the room had been an adventure and a half already. Now, she found herself in a lab the size of her high school cafeteria. Unlike the cafeteria, though, everything was clean and spotless. There was the unmistakable stench of bleach everywhere, even though it had already been three hours since the place had been cleaned and closed out. 

She finally found the locked refrigerator-thing labelled B8. She switched off her flashlight and examined her surroundings. She saw no signs of trip-lazers. No signs of booby-traps. Using her memory and hands, she found her way over to containment unit B8. She touched the screen of the computer-lock. It demanded a handprint. Great. These were particularly annoying.

With a roll of her bright green eyes, she set to work. She was too focused to sense the man slipping into the room. To feel him coming up behind her. To feel any displacement of the nearby air as he breathed soundlessly. 

But she could never be too focused to not react in an instant when she did sense something. She jumped from his grasp before he could get a grip around her shoulder snakeskin-clad shoulder. She hissed as she glared at him from the side of the containment unit. The unit beeped an approval and released the latch. 

The containment unit matched her hiss as the vacuum-sealing released as the door opened. The light offered from the unit gave her a better view of the other intruder.

Fuckin’ Batman.

Like her, he wasn’t one for useless words. He reached for her again. To any other person, his reaction would have been quick. But she was quicker. She leaped away from him, landing on top of a table. She scanned the room for an escape while Batman collected himself.

He moved faster, and he almost caught her as she jumped on the top of a containment unit. The unit had a vent reaching to the ceiling. It was a small vent, it would just be big enough for her to fit through. Considering that she was on the top floor, she kicked the vent apart, hoping it led to the roof. Barely thinking of the irony of the lab owner’s concern for the workers’ health but not so much for the general public’s, she slipped out on to the roof. She raced to the edge and searched from something to climb down on.

She almost jumped to her death when a voice sounded behind her. “Can’t you fly?” this new man teased. She whirled around, facing a very arrogant Nightwing. She grimaced, unsure yet uncaring about whether he saw her artificial fangs. 

He chuckled at his own joke. “What’s a kid like you doing this for, anyway?” he asked.

She couldn’t help but grin at him. Everyone thought she was young. Even when she wasn’t in costume in the middle of the night.

When it was clear she wasn’t going to respond, he sighed. “Well, c’mon,” he said, reaching for her. “Your parents--OW!” He pulled away quickly as she bit him hard in the arm. “What the Hell!?” he demanded as she slipped away.

“You’re a lot hotter in person,” she said as she raced to the other end of the roof. Nightwing ran after her, but found that the arm she had bitten was limp and numb, slowing him down. By the time he made it to her only possible destination and Batman had found his own way to the roof, she was gone.

“She bit me,” Nightwing offered as explanation as to how he lost her. Both men looked down at the acrobat’s still-limp arm, held up by his good one. His suit had been torn from the bite, and there were two human-sized fangs stuck in his skin. There was just a little blood spilling from both mini-wounds. Batman picked them out and inspected one. “I can’t feel it,” Nightwing said. “It’s completely numb.”

“We have to get you to Alfred,” Batman replied.   
\--  
“There was a significant amount of novocaine condensed into those little things,” Alfred informed Batman and Grayson. They were in the Batcave, Grayson sitting in the computer chair and stretching his now-working arm. Batman stood beside him, watching Alfred as the butler delivered the results of his testing. Alfred turned to the keyboard of the supercomputer to display said results. The screen showed the chemical contents of the human-sized fang. “Along with an unidentifiable accelerating agent. They were glued to her teeth with a weakened form of dental glue. Breaking Master Dick’s skin also broke the membrane at the tips, releasing the accelerated novocaine into his blood. We’re lucky it didn’t paralyze his entire side.”

“So I’m not going to die?” Grayson half-joked. Though, considering his arm felt normal again, he was sure he was going to be OK.

Alfred smirked. “You’ll be good for many more years, Master Dick,” he said.

“So she working for a corrupt dentist,” Dick noted.

“Or she’s in school to be one,” Batman said.

“She can’t be more than 16 years old!” 

“There have been no dental hygienists in the area reporting any lost novocaine,” Alfred reported. “Or any other medical professional, as it happens. The glue is a common form that is sold to costume stores and the like, to attach things like vampire fangs onto human teeth. The accelerating agent is a single chemical that the system cannot identify. Whoever is on top of this operation, they know what they’re doing.”

“It’d be weird for someone to try and get vampire fangs now,” Dick said. “It’s June.”

“You’d be surprised,” Alfred said.

“What was she after in the lab?” Batman asked.

“Containment Unit B8 held the room’s supply of toxic chemicals.”

“Makes sense,” Grayson said. “On top of all that chemical mumbo-jumbo, her suit was made out of some kinda snakeskin. And she had those fangs. Oh, and she hissed a lot.”

“Minor fascination with snakes, do you think?” Alfred said with a smirk.

“Not so minor,” Grayson said. “More like a Batman level.” He laughed at his own joke despite Batman’s glare. 

“If she intends to poison people by biting them,” Batman said once Grayson stopped laughing, “she’s going to be surprised when her only victims are clumsy fist-fighters.”


	2. Chapter 2

Naga was jolted awake when her body fell through the air, landing hard on the ground beside her bed. Her bright green eyes searched the room in a panic before she realized what had happened. With a sigh, she brought her palm up to her forehead before pushing back the black strands that had fallen loose from her braid. She yawned and stretched before finally getting up and reaching for her phone.

9:03AM, it read. Awesome. Her entire day of doing nothing was starting early. Unsure whether to consider this a good thing or a bad thing, she pocketed the phone inside her “GOTHAM HIGH SCHOOL” sweats and headed towards the door.

Before walking out, she stopped at the 20-gallon tank on the table by the door. She opened it and casually placed her left hand inside. The adolescent, golden-colored corn snake slid out of its hiding spot and began wrapping itself around her brown wrist.

Once she was sure the snake wouldn’t fall off, she pulled her wrist back out and made her way through her small apartment into her kitchen. 

“You wouldn’t believe the shit I went through last night, Monty,” she told the snake. “I ran into Batman of all freakin’ people.” As she spoke, she snake slid his way up her arm. She worked at preparing a cheap breakfast pastry, making a point to be slow and use her left hand as little as possible. “So I wasn’t able to get whatever that chemical was Punjab wanted. So he made a point to bitch at me. Then you know what the asshole did?” She slammed her right hand down after closing the microwave. “He didn’t pay me!” She let out a sigh of frustration and looked down at the snake.

She loved the way Monty’s golden scales looked against her dark skin. When he was coiled up around her arm, she was always reminded of an Indian heiress with golden bangles piled along her arm.

She scratched an itch in one of her bushy, black eyebrows, reminding herself that she would love to get those eyebrows tweezed if she were rich. Shaking her head, she turned at the beeping of the microwave and pulled out her pastry.

She carried it into the living room and sat it on the coffee table in front of the couch she sat on. She pulled out the container cylindrical that sat on a shelf beneath the table. The container had a secured top that had taken her entire childhood to figure out how to use. Now, however, she opened it with ease and pulled out the cash.

She pushed her plate aside and counted out the 20-dollar bills. “$400,” Naga said, looking down at the snake halfway up her upper arm. The snake stopped its slithering and looked up at her. “I should put aside at least $200 for Geeta’s flute. I was going to wait ‘til her birthday, but she told me yesterday about a thing called a spit valve. Now I really want her to stop using the school’s flute.” She shook her head. “Nasty.” She counted out the $200 and set it aside. “Mom needs $100 to help with groceries,” she informed Monty. “Mina’s really picky, and she can’t eat much of the off-brand stuff.” She counted out another $100. “I need an extra $40 for rent.” Out came $40. “And that leaves $60 for the twins’ birthday...” She sighed. “I wanted to get them something really nice...” She turned her head to look at the snake. After a moment, she said, “No, payday isn’t until next Friday. Their birthday is this weekend.” Monty returned to slithering up her arm.

Naga sighed and leaned back. “Punjab is such an ass,” she said.

As if Punjab were the devil himself, Naga jumped when her phone went off. She jumped again when she looked down and saw her older brother’s name.

“Hello?” she said upon answering.

“You owe me money.”

“Excuse me?”

“A hundred.”

“I don’t owe you shit!” Naga exclaimed.

“I paid you in advance,” Punjab explained impatiently. “You didn’t deliver. Hand over one hundred tonight.”

“It’s not my fault Batman showed up and ruined everything!” she argued. 

“Tonight, Naga,” he said. “Or I’ll call Mom.”

Her mind raced. There was no way she could let him call their mother. He’d give her some sob story about how he’d been trying to contact them this whole time, but Naga wasn’t letting him or something. And their mom would be so overwhelmed with reconnecting with her eldest son after so long that she’d hang on his every word. It’d be a mess.

She sighed. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll be there.” The beep on the other end told her that he hung up. With a frown, she brought her phone down. “Guess I’ll have to find something else to do for rent and the twins.” She felt Monty’s head rub against her shoulder.  
\----------  
“I finally got some DNA off of the fangs, sir,” Alfred informed Bruce. He pulled up the results of his testing on the super computer where he stood with Bruce and Damian, who had been doing research on the case. 

“Naga Patel,” Alfred went on, pulling up the image of the Indian woman. “19 years old. Moved here from India five years ago with her family. Lives alone in an apartment and works at a department store.”

Damian scoffed. “She sounds like a nobody.”

“Sometimes it’s the nobodies you need to be careful of,” Bruce noted. 

“Indeed,” Alfred agreed. “But there are no signs of illegal activity. She doesn’t own or rent any place to be doing her chemical work in, and her apartment would be far too small to work with these sorts of chemicals. Not to mention, she almost failed Chemistry in high school.”

“So she’s working for someone,” Damian said.

“Or with someone,” Bruce said with a nod.

“We know her address,” Damian said. “We should go now. Interrogate her.”

Bruce shook his head. “She might have more training than we know. We’ll watch her.”

Damian sighed. “Fine.”  
\------  
It was late when Naga finally left the apartment building. Even with the sun down, the heat of mid-summer was stifling. Nightwing almost envied the young woman’s shorts and tank top. He silently followed as she walked down the streets alone.

He had to give her credit. She hid her nervousness pretty well. Just not well enough. She was up to something. He radioed to Bruce and Damian before continuing on.

Naga’s eyes darted every which way. She could swear she was being followed. But every time she looked around, no one was there. “Probably Punjab making sure I pay up,” she mumbled to herself, though she didn’t believe it. She was almost relieved when she reached the run-down warehouse that held her brother’s lab. She circled behind it and crawled in between the wooden slats on a back window.

She passed the usual, hidden guards. Meatheads that seemed to be a dime a dozen in Gotham. No loyalties, just ready to fight. She was glad she was on their side. For now.

“I paid you in advance,” Punjab said from his experiments on the desk as she walked into the lab. His eyes focused from the beaker over to her. “You better have my grand.”

Her eyebrows wrinkled. “You only gave me 400,” she said. “And you only told me to bring 100.”

His frown deepened. “You didn’t deliver, Naga,” he said. “I don’t take freeloaders lightly.”

She shifted as she felt movement behind her. But, no, she couldn’t let him know she was afraid. “I’m not a freeloader!” she exclaimed, allowing her anger to overwhelm her. “Punjab you--”

“You owe me!” he yelled, throwing the beaker with whatever chemical in it that was in his hand against the wall behind him. She jumped as she felt big, strong hands grab her. 

“Hey!” she yelled, trying to pull away. She looked at either side of her to see two of her brother’s hired meatheads. “What are you doing!?” She struggled as the meathead on her left pulled her purse off and tossed it to Punjab. The Indian chemist caught it. 

“The other room,” he told the meatheads as he looked through the purse. 

“Punjab! The fuck are you doing!?” she demanded as the meatheads began pulling her across the room.

“Teaching you a lesson!” he called back to her before turning to his phone as it began to ring.

“Punjab!” she screamed, but all she heard was him yelling into his phone before she was pushed into a room and the heavy door was slammed shut in her face.


	3. Chapter 3

She pounded on the door, screaming. Doubtlessly, however, her screams were completely inaudible from the other side. She certainly couldn’t hear anything. The room was pitch black, and she wasn’t about to go exploring. God knew what weird crap Punjab could have locked away in here.   
She gasped when the metal door swung open, almost hitting her in the face. Punjab flew in through it, Grabbing her and pinning her against the wall. “Who did you call!?” he demanded.

Naga struggled against him. “What’re you talking about!?” she asked.

“You called someone,” he said. “And now they’ve infiltrated my lab! All my work is gone!”

“I didn’t call anyone!” she exclaimed. “Get off of me!” She was surprised at her nerdy brother’s strength. Since when had he ever been able to pin her?

“Who did you call!?” he insisted. They both jumped at the sound of an explosion that was too close-by for comfort. He turned back to her. “You’re not worth it,” he said. With that, he grabbed her and threw her on the floor. Her head hit the concrete with a thud, and her world went dark.  
\--

Sunlight shone upon her closed eyelids. She turned away from the intruding brightness with a groan. It took another moment to realize that this wasn’t her bed she was lying in. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

The bed was huge. And fluffy. She sat up and gazed around. The room was huge, too. She was in some rich person’s home, to be sure.

Why? How did she get here? She closed her eyes as she tried to think.

She had gone to Punjab’s lab. He had demanded she return $100. When she got there, he demanded a grand and threw her into...a room with a metal door. He came in and yelled at her and...

Someone had infiltrated the lab. And Punjab threw her on the ground. She’d hit her head on the floor. That was the last thing she could remember.

She almost jumped out of her skin when there was a knock at the door. Whoever it was gave a short wait for a response, but Naga was far too confused to speak out. The door opened.

The man couldn’t be any more true the stereotype of a butler. He walked in with a tray, nodding at Naga when he saw her up. “It is good to see you are awake, Miss Patel,” he said. “How are you feeling?” He placed the tray on a table at the other side of the room before walking towards her.

“Who are you?” she asked in response.

“My apologies,” he said, giving a small bow. “I am Alfred Pennyworth. I work for Master Bruce Wayne. You have been brought here to heal after hitting your head on the concrete.”

“How?” she asked, bewildered. “Wasn’t the place, like, exploding?”

“You were followed to the lab, Miss Patel,” Alfred said. “Your pursuers infiltrated the lab. The man you were working for set the place to blow up. But they found and rescued you before it did.”

Naga shook her head. “Who are these people?” she asked.

“Nightwing found you,” came another man’s voice. Bruce Wayne walked in through the open door. Naga struggled not to gape. Was she seriously in Bruce Wayne’s house!? “He came to me while you were still unconscious. He asked to me keep you here while you rested.”

Naga struggled to breathe. She gazed down at her lap as she took it all in. “H-how long...”

“You’ve been out for about two days,” Bruce said, walking over to her.

She closed her eyes. “Why am I not in a hospital or something?” she asked.

“Nightwing told me you’re a suspect in the break-in of Camb Labs,” Bruce explained. “My security is more advanced than the hospital’s. But I can still call in doctors and nurses if they’re needed.” His tone had a warning hint to it. But Naga should have expected as much. Punjab did kind of make her a criminal. “So, how does your head feel?” Bruce asked.

Naga frowned and covered her face in her hands. “It aches a little,” she said. 

“You need water,” Alfred noted, grabbing a glass of water from the tray and bringing it over to her. After a moment of silence and stillness, Naga let out a breath and took the glass.

“Thanks,” she said. She sipped it slowly. 

“Get some rest,” Bruce told her as he headed towards the door. “I’m sure they’ll be questioning you soon.”  
\--  
“Who do you work for?”

Batman, Robin, and Nightwing stood around Naga as she sat in a metal chair in the batcave, facing away from the computer screen. It was dark out when she was blindfolded and taken away. Now, her exposed green eyes remained trained on her feet. She wasn’t saying a word.

“You’re in a mess of trouble, Naga,” Nightwing pointed out. “At least thirty years in jail for breaking into Camb Labs and attempting to steal those dangerous chemicals. Not to mention all the chemicals you had in those fang-things that were quite illegal. If you help us, we can try to lighten that.”

Naga let out a breath. Her head still hurt, and it was making it hard to think straight. If she went to jail, her family would be in the pits. She knew their rent was about to go up soon. But if she ratted Punjab out, he would find out that she was alive. That would just cause so much more mess that no one needed.

“While we’re sitting here talking,” Robin complained, “he’s out there preparing to kill people again! Is that what you want!?”

“Robin!” Batman scolded. He turned back to Naga. “You’re not helping anyone keeping silent,” he pointed out.

“I don’t know anything,” Naga said with a sigh. “Punjab sought me out last year. I just did what he told me to. I didn’t understand any of it and I really don’t want to.” She shook her head. “The money I got from it offered my brothers and sisters a better chance in this world.”

“What did he tell you to do?” Batman asked.

“Just steal stuff, really,” she said. “I didn’t even know what the stuff was. He just told me where it was and what it looked like. He taught me how to hack locks and all that.” She shrugged.

“Where’d you learn your moves? Him, too?” Nightwing asked.

She smirked. “You think you’re funny?” she asked. “No, I was on the school’s gymnastics team.”

“High school gymnastics doesn’t give you the kind of skills you have,” Nightwing pointed out.

“I loved it,” she replied. “And I continued practicing. Punjab paid for a gym membership for me, too.”

“Do you know where he could be now?” Batman asked. “Another hide-out?”

She shook her head. “I told you I don’t know anything. The building he blew up was the only place I ever met him.”

“We’re wasting time,” Robin said, stepping over to the supercomputer. He put in Punjab’s name. “He owns another warehouse by the docks. Let’s go.”

“I’ll take Naga back,” Nightwing offered. “Meet you there.”

With a nod, Batman and Robin jumped into the Batmobile and drove off.

“Sorry,” Nightwing said as he put the bag over her head. She sighed, but otherwise didn’t respond.


End file.
